Research and teaching interests in the economics of organizations, corporate governance and compensation policy, corporate finance, franchising and banking. From 1989 to 1991, he was chairman of the Finance Department and research director at he University of Utah's Garn Institute of Finance. Professor Brickley was chairman of he Committee on MBA Programs from 1994-1997. Professor Smith has research interests in the fields of corporate financial policy, derivative securities and financial intermediation. He has published 14 books and over 80 articles in leading finance and economics journals. Students in the Executive Development Program have given him their Superior Teaching Award 16 times; students in the M.B.A. program have given him their Superior Teaching Award 10 times. In 1986, he was given the first Special Award for a Perfect Teaching Rating by the School; in 1983 he was chosen as a University Mentor in recognition of his scholarship and teaching. Research and teaching interests involve financial and managerial accounting. He and Professor Ross L. Watts received American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Awards in 1979 and 1980 for their joint papers. He received the American Accounting Association award for Seminal Contribution to Accounting Literature in 2004. He was the 1978 winner of the Competitive Manuscript Award, sponsored by the American Accounting Association, for his paper, The Costs and Benefits of Cost Allocation. His research, which has come to be called positive theories of accounting, seeks to understand the costs and benefits of various accounting procedures. He and Watts co-authored a book, Positive Accounting Theory, published by Prentice-Hall in 1986.
